Maybe nowhere in Asia
you can find so much food variety, at such good prices and quality,
than in Sabah's capital, Kota Kinabalu. Here, you have to make a big
detour around fast food chains, and head straight for those ever so
typical ‘Kedai Kopi’ – café shops – that are found at
every corner of Kota Kinabalu. I think there can’t be many cities in
the world that have so many restaurants in such a small area, and
that offer so much variety. For Sabah, that comes all natural: Kota
Kinabalu (KK) is a melting pot where the locals meet with Chinese,
Bruneis, Indian, Malays, and a handful of ‘white people’ (but we
won’t discuss their food here!). Every ethnic entity has brought a
taste of their food to KK, and the choice resulting in it is sheer
ecstasy. I guarantee you: stay in KK for one month, and you can have
at least twice a day a different meal, always tasting something new!
Now, you might be new to KK and ask yourself: “but are local
restaurants safe? How do I order? And what do the locals eat
anyway?” First things first: the city hall is putting up a
tremendous effort to instill awareness of cleanliness and hygiene
amongst the local population. Most local kedai kopi are now nearly
as safe as restaurants in international hotels. And if you still
have qualms, there is a grading system for café shops in KK: 'A' for
'very clean’, 'B' for ‘clean’, and 'C' for ‘improvement necessary’.
If looking for a local restaurant, you might pick out those rated
'A' only, but an 'A' for cleanliness does not always mean that the
food is also 'A' rated… really, we here look at how many people are
in a restaurant. The more people there are, the better the food,
this is an indicator that is in direct proportions. And where people
queue up for a table you might just join the crowd. The food will be
excellent!

Once you have thus
overcome your suspicion of anything foreign, and you have crossed
the threshold of a local restaurant, the next question becomes more
pressing: how to order. Usually the patron of the place will spot
you easily enough, and he will look after you personally. Most
people speak English, and you should be able order a decent meal –
note that only very few places do have menus. Here, you ask what the
chef proposes, it will be his speciality and the best dish. Some
restaurants here specialise in only a couple of dishes! You can also
look around what is on offer: many Chinese kedai kopi (easily
recognised by their signboard in Chinese characters) have Malay and
Chinese caterers working within their premises. There might be a
display of Malay food, dumplings and dim sum are brought to your
table to chose from, or you can simply ask for something the guests
on the next table are having, if it looks to your liking. Be
adventurous! Food is delicious here, and if you like the exotic, and
if you don’t mind it a bit spicy now and then, you will like what
you get no matter what…! Do not settle for the boring mee goreng,
or nasi goreng! Anybody can order that! And what do we eat?
Well, read on:

A typical KK breakfast – go to any local café shop downtown
for a wholesome local breakfast, hot, spicy and all: fried noodles
with pork or chicken, hot noodle soup (soto, mee sup) with
fish balls, pork, or beef, ‘Tom Yam’ (spicy noodle soup) with
fresh prawns, ‘nasi lemak’ (rice cooked in coconut gravy with
hot sambal and fish fry, often traditionally presented in a
banana leaf wrap), ‘laksa’ (noodles in spicy hot soup with
coconut milk), ‘dim sum’ (steamed dumplings with a variety of
stuffing’s, from chicken feet to crab meat), chicken or duck rice (nasi
ayam / itik), ‘kon lau meen’ with ‘char siew’ and
‘sau nyuk’ (dry fried noodles with roasted and broiled pork –
you can order chicken with it, too) you name it… ! Many Malay shops
also offer a variety of rice based cakes (kueh mueh),
arranged by striking colours, and Indian restaurants offer ‘roti
canai’, unleavened, roasted bread with a spicy curry gravy. For
breakfast we have a glass of black coffee or tea (kopi ‘o’ / teh
‘o’), or an iced drink (ping). If you like your coffee or
tea hot, sweet and with milk, it is enough to order ‘kopi!’,
or ‘teh!'. In KK that means the all inclusive drink! If you
want your ‘kopi’ or tea strong, add ‘kau’, and for very
strong ‘kau-kau’. No milk, say “kopi ‘o’”; no milk and
no sugar, say “kopi ‘o’ kosong”… it sounds more complicated
than it is, really, you get used to it quickly! Try to figure out
now this order: "kopi 'o' kau-kau ping!"... this is naturally a very
strong iced coffee without milk, but a bit of sugar!

A great local lunch
– local coffee shops and food courts offer a
sheer unbelievable variety of local dishes. If you would like to see
and sample one of the best varieties, go to Wisma Merdeka, second
floor food court. If you go there around midday you will hardly find
any seat, and you have to wait in line with the locals. The food
smells too tempting! There are many Chinese shops offering anything
from vegetarian cuisine over clay pot rice to Pizza, and many Malay
shops displaying the best the market can offer: brinjal in sambal,
bamboo shoots in coconut gravy, ‘kangkung’, 'pakis' and ‘sayur manis’ (Sabah
vegetables, inclusive ferns) with ‘belacan’ (prawn paste, rather odorant but ever so
tasty), beef ‘rendang’, ‘kicap’, curry, or in some other sauce,
steamed freshwater and ocean fish, fried fish, ‘acar’ (a type of
fresh salad with pineapples, shallots and peppers), salted duck eggs
and much more! Generally the locals go for some rice, with one or
two fish or meat dishes and some vegetables. You can ask for some
extra gravy, don’t be shy! Malay shops will always serve you a hot
soup with your meal, and the rice is hot, too, but dishes might be
cold; Chinese shops cook a lot a-la-minute upon ordering.

A sumptuous dinner – again, there are many possibilities of eating
out. The simplest places pop up in the evening along the roadside
and on designated places such as near the central market, and around
Karamunsing and Sadong Jaya. There you can eat your fill of most
deliciously prepared local Malay, Indonesian and Filipino dishes for
RM 3.50 (self-service type, you get a plate of rice and you choose
from the array). Though the food in these places is clean, they are
more suitable but for the advanced adventurers! You can perfectly
immerse yourself into the local dining atmosphere when you go to
some of the many open restaurants around town, such as Suang Tain
within the court of the SEDCO complex (Kg Air). They display a fantastic array of fresh seafood (often alive
and kept in aquariums), and fresh vegetables. In those restaurants
you have to ‘go shopping’, and tell the attendant how you would like
your fish, mussels, lobsters, frogs and squids, cauliflowers,
spinach and fern sprouts prepared. This is a fantastic way of
composing one’s own dinner without having to worry about cooking it,
and washing dishes! But beware, while the prices are indicated
everywhere (and they include preparation), you might be astonished
at the bill you receive in the end… a dinner for four, with a medium
sized steamed carp, half a dozen giant butter prawns, a sweet & sour
soup and two local vegetables can easily cost you RM 80, not
including the drinks.

If you eat at a ‘normal’ restaurant, or a kedai kopi that is open
for dinner you will pay by dish, which is
offered according to size: small (2-3 persons), medium (4-5 persons),
and large (6 to 8 persons), and according to what you order. A famous
restaurant, where food is good and where you might have to queue and
wait for a table (local style of 'reserving' your table) is Ang’s
Restaurant, roughly opposite Wisma Merdeka. They also have a menu in
English, bridging effectively the language barrier!

If you arrive in a group and you just feel like having a beer and
some noodles with it, you always can order “five Ringgits of fried
noodles, please…”. Nobody will be offended at that, this is exactly
how we do it! Or you can ask for a couple of beers and then ask the
shop owner if they have any pork chops – fried, in dark sauce,
grilled… just ask what is their speciality – and then ask for ten
Ringgits worth of pork chops, or whatever you fancy…!

If you are vegetarian, or allergic to ajinomoto (MSG, unfortunately
often used in too large quantities here), or any other ingredient,
let the shop owner know. Most dishes in Chinese places are prepared
‘à la minute’, and the cook will be happy to prepare exactly to your
dietary requirements.

Note: in café shops with a Chinese signboard (Chinese characters)
you will find pork (and later in the day beer); in Malay café shops
(with signboards written in Roman or Arabic characters) you find a
whole array of Malay and local specialities, but no pork, eels,
frogs and other funny things.

Bon appétit!

KK's "Kedai Kopi" are difficult to resist!

Suang Tain - a good place to eat out if you are in KK and wish to
sample local delights!

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